Judith Moskowitz – Teaching happiness to men with HIV boosts their healthLearning skills for positive emotions result in less HIV in blood and less anti-depressant use

When individuals recently diagnosed with HIV were coached to
practice skills to help them experience positive emotions, the
result was less HIV in their blood and lower antidepressant use,
reports a new Northwestern Medicine study. Men using positive
emotion skills learned to cope with their stress, while men in
the control group increased their use of anti-depressants. The
findings extend to dementia caregivers and women with metastatic
breast cancer.

The paper was published recently in the Journal of Consulting
and Clinical Psychology.

“Even in the midst of this stressful experience of testing
positive for HIV, coaching people to feel happy, calm and
satisfied — what we call positive affect — appears to influence
important health outcomes,” said lead author Judith Moskowitz,
professor of medical social sciences and director of research at
the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at Northwestern
University Feinberg School of Medicine.

“The group that learned coping skills did not increase
antidepressant use, whereas overall the control group increased
its antidepressant use,” Moskowitz said. In addition, the
intervention group was significantly less likely to have
repeating, intrusive thoughts about HIV.